


Playing Open-Handed

by OdalRune314



Series: Beyond Normalcy [2]
Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: All the hermits can do a nerve-pinch I don’t make the rules, Broken Bones, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Early season 7, Gen, Hermitchat, Mind Control, Nonbinary Viktor | Iskall85, Ocean monsters, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Technically Correct: The Best Kind Of Correct!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 21:55:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28999380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OdalRune314/pseuds/OdalRune314
Summary: When trying to repair a mysteriously obsidian-clogged conduit, Impulse suddenly sees what appears to be a shark. Confused, he swims closer to  get a better look... oh no. That's not a shark.As the creature tightens its hold on the server, bringing more and more of the Hermits under its control, and Tango turns up scared and injured, the message starts to become apparent: Trust no one. Not even your friends. Especially not your friends.After all, that leaves you Playing Open-Handed.-This book is a sequel to another of my stories, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, but you don't necessarily need to read that to understand most of what happens. Enjoy!
Relationships: They’re friends :) - Relationship
Series: Beyond Normalcy [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2085714
Comments: 17
Kudos: 17





	1. Prologue: It

It had seen many a century go flying by. It has seen kingdoms rise and fall again, and rise and fall again, as constant as the tides. It had seen days and nights and eclipses of the moon and sun so often that It did not care anymore. What does it matter what the sky is doing when one lives in the water, anyway? 

It had seen many a death, too. Death did not disturb It as such things might, even to other, older creatures. In Its time, It would say, in the closest tone It would willingly come to bragging, It had caused many a death, in most cases the motivation behind its actions being either a nice lunch, or tearing down the creations of Mother Nature, brick by brick.

It did not like Nature. Nature was too happy. It did not control Nature. Nature hadn't been part of the original empire. At least, that's what It told Itself. In truth, It probably despised Mother Nature so much because Its own existence was a very crime against such things, and so It wanted such things out of Its way.

It had been enjoying a combination of a nap and, although It would claim to be above that, a sulk for the past century or so. Its last attempt at reviving the empire of old had been thwarted by some upstart winged person with a mask. Such a shame, too. It had come so close to victory that time.

It had been shaken out of Its slumber by an Un-Tremor. It initially considered just going back to sleep, but found Itself too intrigued by whatever had caused the disturbance. So it swam, and it swam, to find the source, imagining having whatever immense power that had caused the Un-Tremor under Its control. If It had had the facial muscles to do so, It would have smiled.

Eventually, It found Itself swimming towards a large pillar in the water, criss-crossed with bars of some other material. It had clearly reached some sort of settlement of sentient creatures. And, indeed, when it swam beyond, It saw a figure, dressed in a black T-shirt and cargo shorts, putting a lid on the ocean.

And so, It began to scheme once more...


	2. A Shadow In The Waters

Impulse finished up the floor of his base, smiling in pride at his hard work. It certainly looked impressive up where he was standing, but he figured that he wanted another angle on it, just in case he'd built it at the wrong level or something. He walked to the edge of his base and jumped into the water, sinking under and waiting for the conduit power to kick in. It didn't.

Confused, Impulse surfaced, taking a deep breath. He dived down then, looking for his conduit. It was sitting there, right where it should be, but it wasn't running. Probably something to do with the fact that it was clogged with obsidian for some inexplicable reason. Impulse surfaced once more, downing a potion of water breathing, then dived back under the water to begin the onerous task of clearing his conduit.

He was well into breaking the first piece of obsidian when he spotted a strange, almost shark-like shadow deeper into the water. Distracted, he stopped working on the obsidian, and all of the progress he'd made instantly vanished. He stared at the obsidian in disbelief, then back at where he'd seen the shadow, then back at the obsidian. And he made a decision.

Impulse swam away from the conduit, after the shadow. It had looked like a shark, from his small glimpse of it. That was impossible. Sharks straight-up didn't exist in most worlds, Hermitcraft included. Naturally, his curiosity had been piqued. So he kept swimming, swimming after the shadow. And, eventually caught up with it.

If he hadn’t been underwater, he would've screamed. 

The monstrosity he was looking at was a lot of things, but it certainly wasn't a shark. It had three glowing red eyes, and four tentacles that oozed slime. Shocked, Impulse began to swim away, terrified, almost in a blind panic. There was a monster in the waters of Hermitcraft, he had to tell Xisuma, he had to-

The water around him exploded into a mesmerising kaleidoscope of colours. Enthralled, Impulse stared at the dazzling images, and stopped trying to swim away. He didn't even notice the other sensation, the strange shiver that ran down his spine and throughout his nervous system. Well, not until the colours vanished, and he tried to keep swimming. His arms wouldn't obey him, and as the pit of his stomach dropped, he realised something was dreadfully wrong.

His arms moved out, turning him around in the water to face the monstrosity, no matter how hard he tried to resist. It swam around him, examining him like some kind of art piece, and he couldn't do anything to resist. Eventually, however, it stopped, and that's when the voice broke through his mind, saying simply:

"Good enough."

-Ace of Spades-

Tango was, rather reasonably, starting to worry about Impulse. For the past two days, he'd been ignoring Zed and Tango, holing up in his base, and not responding to chat. What's worse, Tango knew that he wasn't just working on a farm or something. Tango had seen Impulse picking up building supplies from the shopping district, but he didn't even notice when Tango tried to call him over for a round of stat poker.

Tango paced in his storage room, wringing his hands. He wanted to go check on Impulse, but what if Impulse was in too much danger for Tango to handle alone, should he ask Zed to come along, but Zed wasn't online right now, but Tango was really worried about Impulse, so he needed to go now, but he couldn't rush in-

He snapped himself out of the loop of thoughts with an angry grunt. Sighing, he figured it was probably for the best that he just go and check on Impulse on his own. It's not like anything particularly bad could be going on, right? And he didn't have time to wait for Zedaph. Before he could convince himself otherwise, he flew out of his base towards Impulse's place. He arrived only a few moments later, having surreptitiously switched from his elytra to his natural wings halfway there, since he could go faster with them. He touched down lightly, smoothing down his hair, which had been ruffled by the high-speed flight.

"Hello? Impy?" Tango called out, cautiously making his way around the half-built storage system.

"Tango!" Impulse appeared, seemingly from nowhere. It was kinda unnerving, but Tango couldn't put his finger on it. There was something off about him, too, like his smile was just a little too wide, a little too un-Impulseish. Tango dismissed that thought; he was probably just leaping to conclusions from worrying so much.

"Impy! I've been so worried about you!" Tango gasped, running over to Impulse. "Are you okay? What's going on!?"

"What? Nothing!" Impulse protested, although there was something odd about his tone. "I've just been busy!"

"Busy with what? Can I see?" Tango eagerly asked, his curiosity piqued.

"I've just been working on the hidden underwater area." Impulse laughed, taking Tango by the arm and half-dragging him to a hidden stairwell, which led to an underwater corridor. Tango looked around in awe, as they passed a library, a storage area, a cell, and various other perfectly normal rooms.

"Seriously? I warned you." Tango joked, his worries slowly dissolving. And then he spotted the shadow in the water outside, the three glowing red eyes. His heart plummeted to his feet, because he recognised it. In that moment he realised just how tight Impulse's grip was on his wrist, and everything fell into place. Panicking, Tango tried to pull free.

He managed to slip out, just as Impulse turned on him, completely dropping the façade of being the friend Tango knew. Tango took a few steps, desperately searching in Impulse's eyes for his best friend, and coming up. As Impulse drew a diamond sword, and began driving Tango back, Tango sighed and summoned his own sword to his hand.

In a few flashes of blade on blade, Tango's sword went clattering to the floor. Before he could lunge for it, he found himself roughly shoved backward, tripping over his feet. He realised that he'd fallen into some kind of cell, and before he could stand up again, Impulse had locked him in, picked up his sword, and walked off coldly.

Tango tried to telport, but the spell fizzled uselessly in his hand. Sighing, he sat himself down. He guessed that he'd probably be in here for a while. He was alone, alone with his thoughts and a giant fish-monster. Great.

-King of Spades, Ace of Spades-

BDubs, in general, didn't need much. Right now, however, he rather desperately needed two things: dark prismarine, and a place to hide from Doc. Impulse's guardian shop seemed to be a good source for both of these things, so in there he ran. After taking a couple seconds to catch his breath, he went over to the dark prismarine chest, and found that it was empty, save for a few diamonds in payment.

This was bad. He needed that prismarine now. He sighed, and got out his communicator, quickly sending off a message.

> BDoubleO100: Impulse. Dude. You need to restock your shop. 

A minute or so later, a reply came through.

> ImpulseSV: Ok. I've got some prismarine here, maybe we can work out a deal? 
> 
> BDoubleO100: Alright, I'll be right over. :) Just gotta dodge a GOAT. 
> 
> Docm77: There is no "Dodging" the GOAT. 
> 
> ZombieCleo: OOO DRAMA 
> 
> ZombieCleo: FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT 
> 
> ZombieCleo: And bring me the heads when you're done! ;) 
> 
> FalseSymmetry: Are you ok, Cleo? 
> 
> ZombieCleo: Probably. 

Chuckling, BDubs put his communicator in his inventory, shifted his shoulders so that his elytra rested on them more comfortably, and rushed out of the guardian shop, buzzing past Doc and taking off. Doc yelled and turned around after him. BDubs set off into a pattern of evasive manoeuvres, but he just couldn't shake Doc off.

Until an arrow pierced Doc's elytra, and Doc went down. BDubs looked around for his saviour, eventually spotting a certain cyborg hitman, who winked at him with their robotic eye. BDubs gave them a thumbs up, then turned to fly in the direction of Impulse's base. He set down there a few minutes later, getting out his diamonds. A short, cordial conversation later, BDubs had a shulker box of dark prismarine and Impulse was a few diamonds richer.

"By the way, what have you been up to recently? I've barely seen you." BDubs asked kindly.

"Oh, you know, a surprise." Impulse shrugged. "For all the Hermits." Something darker crept into his tone there. BDubs actively chose to ignore it.

"I'm intrigued." BDubs whispered conspiratorially.

"I can show you." Impulse smiled someone else's smile, grabbing BDubs' wrist.

"No, I think it's fine." BDubs chuckled nervously, trying to wriggle out of the iron grip.

"I insist."

BDubs felt a strange feeling hit him, like something had hit the top of his spine with something. A chill ran throughout him, his efforts at throwing it off instantly dissolving. Suddenly he couldn't make his muscles keep struggling, instead settling into a neutral stance.

"How does that feel?" Impulse asked, tilting his head. BDubs figured, then, that whatever was going on had also happened to him.

"Great." His voice unexpectedly said, without his permission. He tried to choke it back, but he might as well have tried to hold in a hiccup for what control he had over the phenomenon.

He and Impulse went down into some hidden area under Impulse's base, and waited obediently by a window. A huge fish-thing floated there, surveying him with its three red eyes. It seemed pleased, and BDubs realised that it was what was controlling both him and Impulse.

-Jack of Clubs, King of Clubs, Ace of Diamonds, Ace of Spades-


	3. Sherlock Grian & Zedson

Zedaph burst into Grian's starter base, shouting something unintelligible about Sherlock. Grian took this in stride, as such things were not entirely uncommon in Hermitcraft. He put down the shulker box he'd been filling with sand for some unimaginable purpose, and zipped over to the doorless entryway in which Zed stood. Zed had regained some of his composure by that point, and explained the situation in more detail: 

"Impy's been acting weird for the past week or so, and Tango’s been missing in action for five days! Naturally, as a close friend to both of them, I have, um... well.... if we're being honest, I've been quietly freaking out in my base. But I figure it's time for a rescue mission! Now, I've actually seen horror movies, so I don't wanna go in there alone. And I was wondering who could help me solve this case... when I realised!" He pointed at Grian. "Sherlock Grian!"

It was at this point that Grian remebered that he, in fact, did not have any of his detective stuff with him, as he'd left it all with Cub at the end of the last season. But on the other hand, Zed's story sounded a lot more concerning than Zed had made it out to be, and Grian didn't want to turn him away. Well. Time to improvise.

"Sorry Zed." Grian shrugged, "Sherlock's on a case right now. However! He's been teaching me a few... uh... tricks of the trade, so maybe I could help?"

Zed stared blankly at Grian for a moment, then started giggling uncontrollably at Grian's absurd claim. Grian joined in with Zed's infectious laughter, slightly confused, and the two giggled away for a minute or so.

"Grian..." Zed gasped, once he'd giggled himself out, "Why didn't you just TELL me you'd lost the outfit!?"

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." Grian denied, stomping his foot in denial. And with that, the two finally got serious, and started planning an investigation into what the hell was up with Impulse and Tango.

-Jack of Spades, Jack of Diamonds-

Impulse kicked and screamed in his mind, trying to resist every movement his body made, but to no avail. He kept fighting, he had to keep fighting, he had to break free. Of course, absolutely no progress was being made, but it was a valiant effort on Impulse's part.

He was walking down the underwater corridor, trying to make his legs stop moving, when he suddenly stopped, receiving new instructions. Someone was here. Tango seemed to sense it too, as he started screaming for the person to run, to get away, to get to safety. Impulse went to his cell, and rattled the bars.

"Silence." His voice hissed. Tango turned to look at him, a mixture of sadness and pity in his eyes. Impulse turned coldly away, and continued up the stairs to his main base.

"Hey Impulse!" Zed's voice called out, and Impulse felt the pit of his stomach drop. No. Zed couldn't be here. He didn't want to subject Zed to this hell, too. Tango was right. Zed had to run. Impulse put all of his effort into slowing himself down, stopping himself, and most importantly keeping Zed safe. He tripped over his own feet, but fell into a pair of arms. Zed.

"Hey Impy! You alright? I've been kinda worried." Zed asked, smiling and sunny and oh so innocent. Impulse could hardly watch.

"Yeah! I'm fine!" Impulse's voice assured Zed, despite the fact that Impulse was very much not fine and Zed very much needed to run. The two continued a friendly conversation, Impulse trying to choke back his words, give Zed some sign that something was wrong. Eventually, he felt his hand reaching out for Zed's wrist, to keep him here so that monster could get him. Thankfully, Zed dodged it. He bade Impulse a quick goodbye, and flew off.

-Jack of Spades, Ace of Spades-

Zed perched on the roof, next to the spot where Grian had been watching everything go down.

"Assessment?" Zed asked.

"Impulstor." Grian replied.

"Time for Stage two?" Zed contiinued.

"Check out where he went." Grian nodded. Zed handed Grian two invisibility and two water breathing potions, keeping two of each for himself. The two dove into the water underneath Impulse's base, and began looking for a way into the underwater level.

Five minutes later, Zed was having absolutely no luck whatsoever in finding an entrance. His first invisibility and water breathing potions were running out, and the clock was ticking. He got the next couple potions ready in his hotbar, and continued swimming. However, before he could decide the next place to look, he noticed something about the room he was currently drifting next to.

Through the blue glass of the window, he could see a room that was almost entirely empty. It had iron bars around an iron door on the side opposite to where Zed was — clearly some kind of cell. And inside? Well, Tango was inside, slumped against the wall and staring blankly into space, tracing a line on the floor.

Before Zed could properly calculate the ramifications of this, he realised that he was getting less and less air from the water around him. Quickly, he downed his second water breathing potion, as his hands began to flash back into visibility. He took his second invisibility potion in hand, but then turned to look at Tango in the cell. He made a quick decision, one that he would never be entirely sure was the right one.

He shoved the invisibility potion into his inventory, and swam up to the window, gently knocking on the glass. Tango looked up, his eyes first clouded by fear, and then clearing as he realised that this was Zed, not whatever else he thought would be there. Zed tried his best not to think about what that "whatever else" could possibly be. Tango carefully made his way over to the window.

"Zeddy?" Tango's voice was muffled through the glass, but Zed was honestly just so glad to hear it. He nodded silently, beaming. Tango smiled back, but it was a sad kind of smile. "Zeddy, I'm-I'm so glad to see you, but... you need to leave." Zed's eyes widened in shock. He vehemently shook his head.

"Zeddy, please. It's not safe. You need to go. Please." Tango pleaded, pressing a hand against the glass. Zed pressed his hand to match it, then shook his head again and began trying to break the glass. He needed to get Tango out of there.

"Zed. Go." Tango urged. "I'll be fine. I can survive this. You..." There was a weighted pause, volumes left unsaid. "You need to get to safety." Zed stopped, the cracks on the glass vanishing. He was about to send Tango a silent goodbye when Tango's eyes widened in shock. Zed turned around in the water, and saw a monster rearing over him in the water.

Zed quickly dodged to the side, narrowly evading the tentacle that lashed out at him. He turned to look Tango in the eye, and he nodded sadly. Zed swam for it. The fish-thing pursued him, eventually coiling a tentacle around his foot. Zed struggled, wriggling to break free, until he felt a strange prickling sensation at the top of his spine, spreading throughout him. He grit his teeth, trying to force the effect off, and eventually succeeding.

The creature looked surprised at this, and Zed used the opportunity to kick himself free, feeling an odd pricking pain on the sides of his neck but dismissing the feeling quickly. He swam for it, fully aware that he was still being pursued until-

"You're lucky I have higher concerns than one escaped human." A voice whispered in his head, soft and insidious, like it was trying to eat away at the crannies of his mind. "Don't worry. I will be back for you." For some reason, Zed didn't feel very assured. He swam away, trying to put as much distance as possible between himself and the monster.

After he thought he'd swam far enough, since he knew that the water breathing effect would wear off soon, Zed surfaced, gasping for breath. For some reason, however, he just couldn't get the oxygen he needed from the air. Choking and spluttering, he dove back beneath the water, instantly feeling the relief of being able to breathe. His brow furrowed in confusion. What was going on? Since when did drinking a water breathing potion mean that you couldn't breathe air?

His hand drifted the the place where he'd felt that odd pricking pain on the sides of his neck. He found, much to his horror, a set of gills sitting there. Well. That explained it. The monster had done something to him, given him gills somehow. Internally screaming, but keeping his focus on his escape, he swam onwards. He hoped the transformation wouldn't be permanent.

-Jack of Spades, Jack of Diamonds, King of Spades-

Grian quickly sent the message to Zed that he'd found an airlock, not bothering to check that the thing actually went through. He put his diamond sword in his hotbar just in case things unexpectedly took a turn for the worse, and waited for Zedaph. After a few Zedaphless minutes, Grian figured that Zed had probably just found another way in, and swam into the airlock. He forgot to drink his second invisibility potion.

He was vaguely admiring the architecture of whatever this weird underwater thing was, when he heard footsteps behind him. Checking his invisibility, he realised that it had run out long ago. Well. That wasn't good. He carefully turned around, and was greeted by Impulse standing over him.

"Grian." He greeted, cold but polite, and very un-Impulseish.

"...You're not Impulse." Grian whispered softly.

"Oh, you think that?" Impulse chuckled darkly. "I AM Impulse. And I'm so much better now. No need to think about anything." He lifted Grian by the collar of his jumper. Grian kicked and struggled, trying to get Impulse to let go. "Why don't I show you?"

"Please... no..." Grian whimpered. But it was too late. The strange shiver of being taken over ran through his body as control was wrested from him. Impulse gently set him back down. "You're right." His voice said, even as he tried to choke back the words. "This is better." His face contorted into an unnatural smile, and he was walked out of Impulse's base, grinning.

-Jack of Diamonds, Ace of Spades-


	4. Attack From Within

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: this chapter contains a description of a bone being broken. If you want to skip it, the part where it happens is from when Etho says: “Why would I ever want to do that?” Through to the end of that section.

There was a terrible weight in BDubs' limbs. He'd been scouting out the server for the past week, acting as eyes for the monster. It hadn't let him sleep, and it was seriously starting to break the guy. He was half-hoping that someone would notice that he was online but not sleeping, and realise that something was wrong, and come drag him out of this nightmare.

It didn't happen. And he was dragged all over the server, until he found himself wearily approaching the edge of a jungle. A part of him cringed with fear, but he was, for the most part, too exhausted to react. He staggered forward, step by step, just begging for all of this to end. And, eventually, it did. BDubs crumpled to the ground, too tired to move on, and he slowly drifted into blissful unconsciousness.

He woke up in a comfortable bed, and for a moment, he thought it had all been a lousy dream. He realised his mistake when he went to sit up and found that his body still wasn’t obeying him. He lay there for a moment more, and then he was slowly, smoothly, Un-BDubs-ish-ly sat up, his legs swung over the side of the bed. He spotted Etho in the corner of the room he was in, who looked up at the movement.

"BDubs!" He greeted, the shape of a smile forming under his mask. "You're awake! What happened? I found you passed out on the edge of the Jungle... are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Etho!" His voice assured, as he stood up. "Just forgot to sleep, ya know?"

"Alright, well, you should probably rest up." Etho suggested, his expression shifting into something unreadable.

"No, I... uh... have a project that I need to get back to, uh, but, thanks for the suggestion!" BDubs' voice desperately tried to weasel him out of this situation.

"Alright, alright, I understand." Etho assured BDubs, as his legs walked him out of the room. "Just one thing before you go," Etho's hand suddenly landed on BDubs' shoulder, squeezing it tightly. "Who are you, and where's my friend?" He hissed, dragging BDubs back.

"I-I'm right here, Etho!" His voice protested, causing the spark of hope he'd felt to begin to fade.

"Liar." Etho accused. "The BDubs I know pays attention to his sleeping schedule, would rest up if he needed to, and would never, ever, go into a jungle. Now tell me. Where. Is. BDubs."

BDubs' voice didn't answer. Instead, BDubs felt his legs moving, running off and breaking Etho's death grip on his shoulder. He was vaguely aware of Etho following in pursuit, but he couldn't look back to confirm it. He bolted towards Etho's nether portal, escaping into the hellish dimension.

He only ran a dozen or so blocks in the nether before stopping and standing very still. He heard the wooshing of multiple nether portals - wait. That wasn't right. And then BDubs realised. On being found out, the monstrosity had set a trap, and Etho was sprinting right into it. BDubs winced as he heard Etho run up behind him. Etho grabbed onto BDubs' arm, spinning him around and grabbing him by the shoulders.

"Where's the real BDubs?" He pressed. "Where... where is my friend?"

"You'll see." His voice replied, a twisted smirk contorting onto his face. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ren and Stress approaching, sneaking up behind Etho. He felt a twinge of guilt: he'd led the two of them into a similar trap. Before he could beat himself up about things outside of his control too much, however, Etho turned around and saw the two.

The guy didn't have time to react properly. Ren grabbed both of Etho’s hands and pulled them behind his back, kicking out his legs so he fell to his knees. Etho yelled and struggled, to no avail. Stress paced around in front of him, crouching down to make eye contact.

"Don't worry, luv." She purred. "You'll be alright." She then rested a hand on the side of his neck, and delivered a Vulcan nerve-pinch. Etho blacked out.

Meanwhile, hidden behind the obsidian pillar of a nearby nether portal, a man in a pharaoh costume gasped and turned away, shocked at what he had just witnessed, and hoping against all hope that he hadn't been noticed. He waited a minute or so, checked that the coast was clear, and made a mad dash for his pyramid on the nether roof. He had to get back to his base. He had to consult the Vex about this.

-Jack of Clubs, Queen of Clubs, Queen of Diamonds, King of Hearts, King of Diamonds-

Etho woke up in a small, pristine room of white concrete, with blue glass looking out into some kind of body of water. There were iron bars and a locked iron door looking into a similarly-designed corridor. Tango was slumped against the opposite wall, staring at his knees and clearly thinking deeply about something. There didn't seem to be any obvious threats, so he opened his other eye and made a faint groaning noise to let Tango know that he was awake. Tango instantly looked up and rushed over, helping Etho stand.

"Look, there's no time to explain." He began, speaking in a rushed whisper, like they were being listened to. Odd. Etho hadn't noticed any bugs or cameras or anything of the like. "You need to fight it off, okay?"

"Fight what-" Etho half-asked, but Tango interrupted him.

"I said there was no time to..." Tango trailed off, staring in horror and hatred at something in the window. Etho turned around, and saw the fish-monster. Before he could really register the horror of the sight, however, something else distracted him, a strange buzz running through his nervous system. "Please. Fight it off." Tango begged, in a hushed voice. And Etho tried. And Etho failed. A dark chuckle — not his dark chuckle — slipped out of his mouth.

"Why would I ever want to do that?" Etho's voice laughed. Tango gasped, and backed up, instinctively raising an arm to defend himself. Etho grabbed that arm, and pulled Tango closer. A breath hitched in Tango's throat. "Why would you try and keep me from this? It's liberating!"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that’s not what that word means..." Tango chuckled, trying not to panic.

"No matter. You've been a thorn in my master's side for far too long." Etho sighed.

"Etho, please, think about what you're doing." Tango begged, trying to break free.

"I don't need to think, not anymore." Etho chuckled. "What you need, on the other hand..." he pulled Tango even closer. "Is punishment." Etho slammed Tango into the iron bars. Tango met Etho's eyes, but quickly looked away when he saw that they were full of dangerous intent, yet at the same time shining with tears. Etho pressed Tango's arm against one of the bars, and pushed, until suddenly-

CRACK!

Tango let out a bloodcurdling scream as it seemed that his entire arm was set on fire. Etho let go of him, and he crumpled to the floor, clutching his arm to his chest. Someone opened the cell door for Etho, and let him out. If whoever it was noticed how Etho was trembling, no remark was made about it. Tango was, once again, left alone.

-Queen of Clubs, King of Spades-

Cub hadn't slept. Instead of being helpful and giving him answers, the Vex had just given him a dusty old tome and told him that he should really figure it out for himself. Cub didn't even see what the book “Horrors of the Oceans” had to do with what he'd witnessed in the nether. Still, he'd stayed up all night reading it, and, as the dawn broke, all he had was a good idea of what kind of horrifying water flora there were out there. He'd never go swimming again.

But tediously, tiredly, he'd reached the section on horrifying water fauna. He was on the second entry under A, 'Aboleth'. He skipped past the various gunk he'd deemed unnecessary, like the anatomical diagrams and stuff, and turned to the list of its abilities. And that was when Cubfan135 realised the magnitude of the situation. 

He gasped, and turned back to the beginning of the entry, reading up on every little detail about the thing. What it could do matched the situation he'd seen perfectly, and so he needed to find a weak spot. After scanning the chapter thoroughly, he began to devise an attack plan. He then gathered his things into a shulker box, and took off.

The first place he went was X's base. He left a note behind, letting X know what was going on, just in case he didn't make it out with his own mind intact. He sighed, and took off, looking back once as he was terribly afraid that this would be the last time he'd see X's base of his own free will.

Cub had traced the possible locations of the Aboleth, and figured most likely be either at Impulse's base or Jevin's base. Considering how he'd spoken to Jevin less than a day before and the guy seemed as relatively alright as he usually was, Cub went to Impulse's base first. 

He landed lightly, softly, trying to keep himself hidden, ready to face something with the faces of his friends. After a couple minutes of exploring, he spotted Ren coming out of some kind of hidden trapdoor, and gasped, quickly darting into the shadows before he was spotted by anyone. And then the voice spoke into his head.

"You can’t hide anywhere. You think far too loudly." It was insidious, clawing at the crannies of his mind. Cub quickly shunted it out, just in time to see Ren turn to stare directly at him. It was kinda ominous, in a way that made Cub's heart leap into his throat. Cub carefully backed away, hoping that this was all just his paranoid mind playing tricks on him - and bumped right into Grian.

Cub gasped, and made to run in the other direction, but Ren and Grian quickly cornered him, perfectly coordinated. It sent a shiver down his spine. He defended himself fairly well, and only had to resort to magic twice. Still, in the end, Grian and Ren got him pinned against the wall, his hand unable to move to cast any more life-saving spells.

"Join us, Cub." Grian suggested. Cub felt the feeling of being taken over trying to run rampant through his nervous system. He squashed it with a quiet grunt.

"Never." Cub asserted. He started struggle, just trying to get his hands free so he could cast a spell to teleport himself outta there. All his efforts, however, just left him out of breath. He looked up, and met Grian's eyes. "I'll never join you."

Even as Grian's face twisted into one of anger, Cub caught the briefest twinkle of relief in the other's eye. That was when the realisation hit Cub: they were awake in there. Everyone under that monster's control was conscious and aware of what was happening to them. The shock hit him like a bullet, so hard that he didn't even notice a second attempt at taking him over until it was far too late for him.

-King of Diamonds, Jack of Diamonds, King of Hearts-


	5. The Greatest Great X-Scape

Five days. The note was dated to five days ago. X read it over again with disbelief. If he'd found it earlier, maybe he could have saved Cub, but no. No such luck. He sighed. He was supposed to be the admin. It was his duty to protect the Hermits from any threat, and this 'Aboleth' definitely seemed to be one.

He read the note over once more, and then grit his teeth. He got out his most powerful sword, bow and trident, got together a set of good armour, and set off for Impulse's base. He'd save them. He had to.

The note fluttered to the ground, forgotten.

-Trademark Joker-

X carefully slipped into the underwater area, constantly watching over his shoulder and where he was going. The rooms seemed fairly normal for a hidden bunker, at least going off of his experiences in Demise. Maybe Cub was just wrong, and had forgotten to pick up the note. X was so deep in thought, he forgot to watch anywhere, and bumped into someone: Impulse.

"Hey, X." Impulse greeted, smiling a weird smile. "What brings you here?"

"I just wanted to check up on you. Nobody's seen you in ages. I'm supposed to look out for everyone, you know." X explained. He left out the bit about Cub and the note. Either Impulse already knew, or didn't need to.

"Well, why don't I show you around?" Impulse grabbed X's wrist. X quickly twisted out of the grip, and a very non-Impulse expression flashed across Impulse's face. Well. That answered X's question about whether the problem was real or not. X quickly bolted, and Impulse took off after him. X ran, and kept running, until-

"Tango!?" He yelped. Tango was sat, crumpled in a cell, cradling his right arm to his chest and breathing heavily. His face was stained with tears.

"X...?" Tango gasped in reply. He weakly stood up, bracing himself against the wall with his left arm. And then X was rather abruptly pinned to the wall by Impulse. "XISUMA!" Tango screamed. X quickly threw Impulse off, although he was still careful not to hurt him. X rushed over to the cell and, too hurried to try and open the door normally, kicked down the iron door. Tango rushed out, as X was pinned to the wall again. Tango moved to help, but X shook his head sadly, struggling against Impulse.

"Run." X urged him, and so Tango did. And X relaxed a little, even as he was fighting a losing battle against one of his own friends, even as he was dragged away, even as he felt himself being taken over, that he'd at least managed to save someone.

-Trademark Joker, Ace of Spades, King of Spades-

"Awww, Jellie, what's wrong?" Scar asked his cat as she paced irritably about. She paused, glared at him pointedly, and went back to pacing. He sighed, and went back to trying to develop a mental picture of the area he was about to terraform. He was shaken out of his thoughts, however, by the sound of something crashing into some kind of tree or bush. Scar quickly ran over to see what was up.

When he got there, he saw Tango on the ground, trying to get his frantic hyperventilating under control. Tango looked up at him and gasped, scuttling back, dragging himself mostly by his left arm. Scar's expression softened, and he offered Tango a hand. Tango locked eyes with him, paused for a second, then tentatively took it. 

Scar helped him stand, despite Tango seemingly barely having the strength to do so. He looked Tango over, and saw that the guy was covered in small bruises and scratches, like from an out-of-control flight, but more importantly, was holding his right arm like it was fractured. In other words, the guy needed medical attention, STAT.

Soon, Scar had set up a makeshift medical area. Tango was sat on a bed, his broken bone set and his arm in a sling while Scar brewed up a batch of regen potions for him. The moment they were done, Scar passed the first one to Tango, who clumsily chugged it left-handed, wincing slightly as his wounds closed noticeably fast, as opposed to their usual subtle kind of fast.

"What even happened to you?" Scar asked, passing Tango another potion. "You look like you've been through the wars!"

"Etho." Tango replied, downing said potion. "He can be brutal if something forcibly puts his mind to it."

"He- what. Wait- what?" Scar stammered, fumbling the third potion, causing it to fall to the ground. Thankfully, the bottle didn't break.

"Ever heard of an Aboleth?" Tango asked. Scar paused, thinking back to some research he did for Area 77, then nodded. Then he paused, and thought for a second. Then all of the colour drained out of his face.

"HERE!?" He half-gasped, half-shouted. He coughed, regaining his composure. "We have to tell someone! Tell Xisuma!"

"No." Tango gasped. "No, no no no no. Not Xisuma."

"...Why not?" Scar asked. Tango just shook his head, eyes glazed over. The conversation quickly died, and Scar just finished patching up Tango's wounds in amicable silence.

-King of Spades, Ace of Hearts-

Around midnight, Scar decided that he couldn't rest with this weighing on him. He had to warn everyone, starting with X. He slipped out of bed, sneaking past where Tango was sleeping. He winced, noticing that Tango's eyes were wide open. The guy let out a snore, however, and Scar was convinced that the guy was sleeping like a brick. Deciding not to push his luck, however, he whispered a quick apology, and slipped out.

"X?" Scar called out as he landed in Xisuma's base. "X, you there?"

"Oh! Hey Scar!" Xisuma suddenly appeared behind him, causing Scar to let out a little yelp of surprise.

"X, you startled me!" Scar gasped, turning around. X chuckled, tilting his head slightly, and Scar was very suddenly aware of the fact that he couldn't see X's expression. He didn't understand why he was just noticing it now, just that when before it had been 'just an X thing', it was now incredibly creepy. Still, he shoved those thoughts to the back of his mind. He had more important things to worry about.

"You need something?" Xisuma asked, shrugging.

"Oh! Yeah-um, right. I'm worried about a threat to the server, and, well, you're the admin, so I figured you ought to know." Scar paused for breath, briefly wondering why he was so nervous all of a sudden. "See, there's this thing called an Aboleth, it's like a fish-monster that can do mind control, and Tango says he just barely escaped from one..." Scar trailed off.

"Oh. That." X laughed. "Don't worry, Scar." He gently rested one hand on Scar's shoulder. "I already know about it." He paced around behind Scar. "I'm working to fix all the problems." He pulled out a cloth and a lingering potion of sleep from his inventory, and poured one onto the other. "And everything will soon be under control." He suddenly grabbed Scar's shoulder tighter.

"X- what- what are you-" Scar protested incoherently, before the realisation hit him like a brick to the head. Tango told him to stay away because he knew that X had been got. Tango was trying to keep him safe, even as he didn't want to admit what had happened to himself. Scar should have listened.

X clamped the cloth over Scar's nose and mouth. Scar screamed, desperate for someone to hear, for someone to come help. It was muffled by X's hand, but he hoped it would be enough. He struggled in X's grip, trying his best to wriggle free. But in the end, his scream died in his throat, his movements became sluggish and heavy, and his eyelids slowly drooped shut as he slipped into unconsciousness.

"Everything will soon be under control." X assured Scar again. "Starting with you."

-Ace of Hearts, Trademark Joker-


	6. Holding Out For The Heroes

Zed had been running for days. And yes, running is the right word there. The gills had gone away after a few agonisingly long hours, leaving nothing but scars in their place. Which, in turn, explained the scarf trailing dramatically behind Zed as he legged it as fast as possible from Keralis' nether portal.

He checked over his shoulder — he seemed to have lost his pursuer for the time being. He sighed, and stumbled blearily through the nearest nether portal. He collapsed, out of breath, on the bright green grass, resting his head on cold obsidian of the base of the frame of the portal. He was there for a few seconds before he was aware of someone coming towards him in his periphery.

Zed flinched, bracing himself to get up again and make a run for it at a moment's notice. The person seemed to notice this movement, and back up. To be able to read someone from the distance this person seemed to be at... it had to be a good PvPer. Well, as long as it wasn't Etho, he was fine enough, and Etho wouldn't let Zed notice him. The person began approaching again, softly placing a hand — an oddly cold hand — on Zed's shoulder.

"Hey, Zed? You ok there?" Iskall's voice asked softly. Zed nodded, slowly making to stand up against the frame of the portal. Iskall helped him up. "...what happened?" Zed turned to face them, and, completely deadpan, rattled off:

"Impy and Tango went missing a few weeks ago, so I went to Grian for help, and we figured out that it was a fish monster with mind control powers, but then Grian got got by the fish monster and I had to swim for it, and then I realised that the fish monster had somehow made me grow gills so I had to stay underwater for hours and hours and hours and hours. Then when I finally got back on land it suddenly seemed like everyone had been got, and then I found a note from Cub to X that told me that the fish monster was called an Aboleth, and then I made my way to Keralis' base and was chased here." He finished. "You?"

"...Well," Iskall began, "Well. Maybe we should do something about this?"

"Do I look like a PvPer to you?" Zed pointed out. Iskall shrugged, and pointed at the sword sheathed on their hip.

"Oh. Ok then." Zed agreed, and the two laid out a plan of attack: Iskall would dive in under Impulse's base and attack the Aboleth while Zed covered their back. The two gathered the weapons and other supplies they needed to carry out the plan, and were about to set off when Zed stopped. "We should leave something behind." He pointed out, pulling out a small, deep red gem from his inventory.

-Jack of Spades, Ace of Diamonds-

Zed and Iskall kneeled on the lip of one of the unfinished walls of Impulse's base, nervous that they were about to go and do this. They paused, and then both glided down, immediately swapping out their elytra for chestplates the moment they hit the ground. It was a good thing that they did it, too: Ren was waiting for them.

Iskall made a break for it while Zed covered their back, as they broke a small hole in the floor and dove in to confront the Aboleth. Zed backed up towards the hole as more and more controlled hermits swarmed out. Zed held them all back, albeit with difficulty, and by the time all but one of the assailants was unconscious on the floor, Zed was panting and heaving.

And then the last one standing, Impulse, charged. Zed narrowed his eyes. He knew his friend's gait, and knew that if he swiped at Impulse's legs at just the right moment, then Impulse would trip and fall, no matter what. So he did, knocking Impulse to the floor, and holding his sword to the side of Impulse's neck, his hand trembling.

"Zeddy?" Impulse gasped, eyes wide. "Zeddy, it's me, Impy."

"No." Zed briefly made eye contact, searching for some sign of his friend, and coming up empty. "No, you're not Im-Impulse. How dare you. How dare you claim to be my best friend. How dare you USE him like this!?" Zed was practically screaming by the end, tears starting to prick at the corners of his eyes. Hand shaking, he pressed his sword against Impulse's throat. "Let. Him. Go." Zed whispered, anger seeping into his voice like poison.

The two remained like that for the longest time, Zed standing over Impulse like that, looking for any sign of recognition in Impulse's eyes. The only thing he saw, eventually, was a reflected flash of movement as something moved behind him. The second's warning this gave was not enough for Zed to get out of the way, as hands suddenly grabbed his arms from behind, drawing them back behind his back so he couldn't strike back.

Zed yelled, struggling. Every time one hand managed to slip out of whoever-it-was' grip, it was snatched before the other could be freed. Now free from the threat of Zed's sword, Impulse bounced up to his feet, smiling at whoever had got Zed.

"Why thank you," He said, half-grateful to them, half-mocking to Zed. He paused for dramatic effect, before finishing: "Iskall."

Zed gasped, as he realised the implications of this. Iskall had failed. They both had failed. Zed's shoulders visibly slumped. The feeling of being taken over began coursing down his spine, and he didn't care. The last thing that he did before he was fully gone, the last thing that he did as him, was let a single tear roll down his face.

-Jack of Spades, Ace of Diamonds, Ace of Spades-

"Iskall? Iskall, are you in here!? Hermit challenges!" Mumbo called out, his voice echoing in the emptiness of Iskall's base. There was, of course, no response. Mumbo sighed, adjusted his elytra. They were probably just in the shopping district, right? He made to take off, only to realise that he didn't have any rockets. He sighed. Iskall wouldn't mind if he borrowed a few rockets, right?

He went over to Iskall's storage system, and moved to open a chest when he brushed his fingers against a deep red gem. It began to glow vibrantly. Mumbo quickly grabbed it, worried that he'd broken something.

"Hey there!" The crystal suddenly began to project a red hologram, showing Iskall and Zed waving. Zed was wearing a scarf for some unknowable reason. "It's me, Zedaph," Hologram-Zed continued, "And Iskall's here too."

"So basically there's a monster, and we're gonna kill it." Iskall continued. "If we don't come back, or come back wrong..."

"Get this to Tango. He's the only one who can fix this, if we can't." Zed finished. "And this monster, this... Aboleth, I think? It can do mind control, so don't trust anyone. Not even your closest friends. Especially not your closest friends."

With that, the hologram disappeared, and a date appeared above the gem — last Wednesday. It was Saturday now. Mumbo gasped, and quickly grabbed some rockets from Iskall's storage and took off towards Tango's base. He was constantly checking over his shoulder as he flew, all of a sudden paranoid.

He stumbled into Tango's base shortly after, botching the landing as usual. The gem went flying out of his hand, clattering away with a series of pinging noises. Mumbo grunted, and stood up, to see Tango picking up the gem, turning it over in his hand.

"Hey Mumbo." Tango greeted, more focused on the gem. "Why... why do you have one of the recording crystals that I gave Zeddy?"

"I found it in Iskall's base. Zed- er, recording-Zed, asked me to bring it to you." Mumbo rubbed the back of his neck nervously. Tango frowned, and activated the recording, his face falling as the recording played out, until it reached the date at the end. At this, Tango violently shoved the crystal into his inventory.

"We need to stop that monster." Tango frowned. "We should have started ages ago."

"I'll join you." Mumbo agreed. "For Zed. For Iskall."

"For Hermitcraft?"

"For Hermitcraft."

-No Trademark Joker, King of Spades-


	7. For Hermitcraft

Five hermits sat in a campsite, tired and sitting back-to-back. They were the last ones left: Joe, Cleo, Doc, Mumbo and Tango. Everyone else was either controlled, taking a break from the server, or too far away to reach. They'd had a busy week, planning out their attacks, working out specific scenarios and everything else. They would attack at dawn. But for now, they were just enjoying each other's company, possibly for the last time.

"I'll keep watch." Tango volunteered.

"I'll keep watch. Joe insisted. "You've kept watch all week, and not slept at all. You're key to this battle, Tango. I'll keep watch tonight, so that we're all well-rested."

Tango made a very immortal noise of protest, but was quickly shut down by Joe's dad glare. He slunk off to his tent, preparing himself for a boring night of pretending to be asleep.

-King of Spades, Jack of Hearts, Queen of Spades, King of Clubs, No Trademark Joker-

Impulse struggled feebly, a cursory effort in fighting against the control. He'd realised long before that his fighting wouldn't have any more effect than what little clumsiness he'd managed, but he still tried in case one day that changed, and he'd be able to break free. Of course, his efforts were once again for naught. He didn't really know why he bothered to keep fighting. Who knows if any of the others were.

He felt his legs moving him up the stairs, out into his main base. With a sick feeling in his stomach, he wondered which Hermit was due to be plunged headfirst into this living hell next. As he approached the figure stood in the middle of his base, he saw that it was Joe. Thankfully, as he got even closer, he realised that it wasn't Joe after all, just an armor stand.

And then two figures dove at him, and he realised that he was under attack, and the Aboleth didn't react quickly enough, and he was knocked briefly into blissful unconsciousness. Mumbo and the real Joe stood up, and nodded at the three other figures who were circling in the air above them. Tango and Doc joined the duo, while Cleo dropped some armour stands by them and then perched herself on top of one of the unfinished walls.

There was a beat of silence, and then the four were beset by all of the controlled Hermits. They covered each other's backs as best they could, Cleo directing her armour stands to use as shields.

"Doc! Now!" Joe yelled, passing a lit TNT to Doc, who bat it to an open stretch of floor with his trident. Doc made a mental note to repay the lost smooth stone to Impulse once this all was over, as the Aboleth came swimming up close to the surface, the shine from Its three eyes piercing into all those who met them.

"What is the meaning of this?" A voice spoke. It was insidious, controlling, trying to seep into the cracks of the psyche of anyone who heard it. Tango winced and covered his ears.

"We've come to kill you in order to save our friends." Doc growled, drawing his trident.

"Very well, then." The voice of the Aboleth hissed. "May the best fighter win." And then It promptly punched (or at lead performed the closest approximation of punching that a creature with tentacles can manage) Doc in the face.

Five minutes later, and it seemed to be a losing battle. Joe had been taken over first, then Mumbo, then Cleo. Tango and Doc had been forced to stand back to back in order to defend each other. The Hermits controlled by the Aboleth were utterly relentless, and every time one was knocked out or forced to retreat, two took their place. Doc was covered in scratches and bruises from the Aboleth's attacks, and even if he seemed to brush them off, he was starting to suffer.

Tango swiped again, keeping the other hermits away from Doc's back, feeling the sweat starting to bead up on his forehead. He held his ground steadily, brushing off the few scratches that he was taking, since it wasn't like they were going to kill him anyway. And then he thought he saw the faintest glimmer of a ruby, causing his heart to leap in his throat.

He looked around wildly to see if he could spot it again, and sure enough, there it was: the one sword that could kill him, his accursed Achilles’ heel being wielded against him by none other than one of his best friends, Impulse. Suddenly, everyone else seemed to melt away as all of Tango's attention was focused on that blade. He shifted even further on the defence, desperately retreating as Impulse drove after him.

Doc turned around, startled, and saw what Impulse was doing, and saw a fear in Tango's eyes that none of the Hermits had ever seen before, and saw the silent apology that Tango mouthed towards him, and nodded, and bashed Ren, who'd been sneaking up on him, with the handle of his trident.

Tango stumbled back as he lost more and more ground. He was struggling to maintain the effort necessary to hold Impulse off without hurting the friend who Tango was painfully aware of the mortality of. Still, Tango fought back as best he could, defending himself from that sword, knowing that even the tiniest scratch from that thing could seriously mess him up.

Because of all of the effort he was putting into protecting himself from that sword, he didn't even notice the kick Impulse delivered to his knees until he was already off-balance, falling to the floor with a soft thud, the diamond sword he'd been using clattering uselessly out of reach as he'd dropped it in a vague attempt to catch himself.

"Impy..." He whispered, knowing that his chances of survival were fading quickly. "Please. Fight back."

Unheeding, Impulse raised the sword, ready to strike, to wipe Tango off the face of the world forever. Tango uselessly flinched with his left arm, squeezing his eyes shut. He made peace with his long life, and prepared for whatever would come next. Because then, in that moment, he was sure he was going to die. 

And then all he knew was burning pain. The sword cut into his arm, and then as suddenly as it had began, it stopped. Trembling along with the hand that held it, the sword was pulled out, and Tango heard it clattering away.

Cautiously, Tango opened his eyes. He saw Impulse, breathing shakily, an expression on his face that was partly horror, partly guilt and partly relief, but in every way Impulse. Tango carefully stood up, wincing at the burning in the slice cut into his arm, almost all the way to the bone, and Impulse rushed to help him. Both trembling, both on the verge of tears, the two fell into a hug.

"I'm sorry." Impulse sobbed. "I'm so, so sorry."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the base, Doc's trident returned to his hand one last time after leaving the Aboleth well and truly dead. All of the hermits around him slowly came to their senses, some confused, some relieved. Doc smiled weakly even as the adrenaline drained out of his system, leaving him utterly exhausted. BDubs barely caught him as he collapsed.

But in the end, the Hermits had won.

-Jack of Clubs, Queen of Spades, King of Diamonds, King of Clubs, Queen of Clubs, Queen of Hearts, Jack of Diamonds, Ace of Spades, Ace of Diamonds, Jack of Hearts, No Trademark Joker, King of Hearts, Ace of Diamonds, Queen of Diamonds, King of Spades, Trademark Joker, Jack of Spades-


	8. Epilogue: ZIT

The sunset was beautiful, Impulse had to admit. He was sitting on the outside of Zed's base, sat between Zed and Tango. Tango had his arm around Impulse's shoulders, and even though it was the bandaged arm, and therefore starting to chafe, Impulse wasn't complaining. He was thinking, if anything.

"Hey. Impy. You alright?" Tango asked. Oh. He must have noticed Impulse's distant expression. Impulse sighed.

"Yeah. Just... thinking. It's weird, to be... y'know, in control of my own actions again. The... what, Aboleth, you called it? The Aboleth had me under its control for almost a month." Impulse explained, shrugging. The shrug jostled Tango's injured arm, and he clutched it, hissing slightly under his breath. "Sorry!" Impulse gasped, scooching slightly away.

"You, sir, have nothing to be sorry for." Tango replied sternly. "It wasn't you that did this." Impulse smiled weakly at the comforting words, as Tango scooched back in and wrapped his arm around around Impulse's shoulder again.

"I mean, you are rather close to death's door." Zed joked, pointing to the point below them where the entrance to his base would be.

"Oh no! The reaper!" Tango gasped, dramatically throwing his uninjured arm across his forehead and flopping into Impulse's side. Impulse stifled a chuckle at the two's antics. Tango stayed huddled up close to Impulse's side. Eventually, he quietly asked: "...How much time do I have left?"

In response, Zed put the scarf that he was knitting into his inventory, adjusted his own scarf, and with a dash of magical effort summoned an ornate hourglass, decorated with skulls and bearing a golden plaque with Tango's name engraved on it. It had quite a significant bit of sand left. Zed frowned, did some math in his head, realised that Tango had a significantly longer lifespan than the people he'd usually be trying to work this out for, did some more math in his head, and proudly proclaimed:

"I have absolutely no idea, but I think it's a long time. Maybe. There’s definitely more than four sand, I know that."

"That's incredibly comforting." Tango replied drily. Zed chuckled, and dismissed the hourglass.

The three remained there, on the mountain, for a while, watching the sunset. Eventually, Zed drifted off, using Impulse's shoulder as a pillow. Before Tango fully realised what was happening, a half-asleep Impulse dragged him into the hug, and fell asleep himself. Tango supposed that of all the places to be trapped, in a hug pile with his two best friends was one of the better ones.

Night fell across the Hermit lands, and soon all the light that was left was the soft red glow from Tango's eyes.

-Ace of Spades, King of Spades, Jack of Spades-

A hand rapped on the glass of the tank. The preserved body of the aberration inside didn't do anything, because it was, of course, dead.

"We must be the first ones in the order to have an Aboleth in our collection." The owner of the hand mused.

"Well, yes," Another voice confirmed, "But something even greater came with it."

"Oh?" The first voice asked, their interest piqued.

"Look at this." The owner of the second voice presented a vial of something. "It was one of the by-products when I was trying to get Aboleth slime from the water around it."

"...Is that...?"

"It is."

"Well. Imagine having one of those in our collection."

"If only it was mortal."

"Oh, but we don't need to kill it." The two walked over to the other side of the room, to a wooden cabinet. The owner of the first voice thrust it open. Inside, there was shelf upon shelf of jars, containing people that had been shrunken down. They were all banging on the glass, screaming for help. "In fact, since its kind are sentient... there's already a jar with its name on it."

"Then..." the second voice chuckled. "Let's go hunting."


End file.
